This song is about a friend's or relative or parent's suicide.
"The concrete broke [his] fall".
Mike did not cope with this person's depression: Mike "[had] done anything", "would do anything", actually "would have done anything" in order "to hear [him] speak a verse".
He had been "sad for a while". So, Mike is inviting him to cheer up, to approach life another way. That's why he's saying "Why not smile?!" (instead of getting prey to depression and committing suicide, eventually).
This song is about a friend's or relative or parent's suicide.
"The concrete broke [his] fall".
Mike did not cope with this person's depression: Mike "[had] done anything", "would do anything", actually "would have done anything" in order "to hear [him] speak a verse".
He had been "sad for a while". So, Mike is inviting him to cheer up, to approach life another way. That's why he's saying "Why not smile?!" (instead of getting prey to depression and committing suicide, eventually).
Great song. Yet so sad.